An Indonesian Brimob police officer has shot dead an unarmed mentally ill Lani youth in Wamena on Thursday, after the youth allegedly verbally ridiculed the passing heavily armed police patrol on Jalan Ahmad Yani, according to witnesses interview by West Papua Media stringers.

Irwan Janengga, also known as Irwan Wenda (18) was shot dead without verbal warning by a Brimob anti-terrorist officer from Ambon, BrikPol Lua Lusman from the Jayawijaya brigade, who was a member of a five-man patrol that encountered Janengga outside the police post, according to witnesses interviewed by human rights activists and our stringers.

According to witnesses with the initials AW and BK, Janengga taunted the officers with nonsensical words and said, “”The plane has landed so (are) storing the goods,” (referring to corruption in the police). The five man patrol took offence to this taunting, and several members fired two warning shots from their automatic rifles without a verbal warning. Janengga took no notice of these warning shots, according to the witnesses, and continued his “crazy talk”.

As the Brimob officers were preparing to shoot Janengga, the two witnesses shouted to BrikPol Lusman, “Just ignore him, he has nervous disorders of the brain, do not shoot him!”. Brikpol Lusman ignored this plea, and opened fire on Janengga, aiming multiple shots directly at the legs, abdomen, head and left hand of victim. Janengga died instantly according to witnesses.

Immediately after the shooting, the 5 police officers began an unprovoked attack and beatings on the two witnesses, and arrested them with force. They were taken then to the Jayawijaya Police HQ, where the witnesses reported to West Papua Media’s stringer that they were forcefully interrogated by police, allegedly with the aim to manipulate the official witness statements of the shooting incident according to BK and AW. Upon learning of their detention, the victims families demanded the immediate release of the witnesses a demand with which Police complied by early afternoon on Thursday.

Janengga’s body was then brought by another police unit to the General Hospital in Wamena.
The body of Janengga was retrieved from the hospital by his family late on Thursday afternoon, and brought to his home, where the family conducted mourning ceremonies. At the time of publication, the victim was still unburied.

Tiko Kogoya, the victim’s aunt, told human rights workers after learning of the testimony of two witnesses after the shooting. “Our victim’s family is upset over the shooting of our son.”

“Our Boy, he was (with) nervous disorders of the brain, he just simply said ‘why police shoot’,” said Tiko Kogoya.

Tiko continued, “we the victim’s family, ask that the perpetrators should be prosecuted in court, act honestly, and be punished accordingly,” she said.

Footage shot by local witnesses has emerged of the aftermath of the shooting, showing local people outraged at another unprovoked killing by Indonesian forces on unarmed indigenous Papuan citizens.

Meanwhile Ogram Wanimbo, an activist with the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) Wamena chapter, told our stringer, “The shooting that happened, it is a human rights abuse, since police shot a mentally ill young man because of a nervous breakdown in the brain.. who was sayings word without (being) conscious (of the meaning)”, he said.

Ogram also said “We strongly condemn the perpetrators of the shooting, and we are annoyed by his preaching of the case in local and national media, engineering the chronology of the incident, without interviewing witnesses and families of victims… the fraudulent news does not fit the facts of incident,” he said.

A human rights worker in Wamena told West Papua Media: “This shooting that was done in service of a State mission, that continues to be done, and will be done by the Indonesian invader forces, through military and police in Papua, are unlawful acts under International law, the ICCPR and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (all of) which have been ratified into law of the Republic of Indonesia.”

Jayapura – On 7 March 2013, members of the Wamena District Police reportedly arrested three civilians in Pirime, Lanny Jaya Regency, Papua. The civilians have been named as Tinius Kiwo (23), Wurin Tabuni (46), and Kiwenus Tabuni (30).

The three men were allegedly severely tortured after being arrested, with their skin being sliced open by razor blades. Their whereabouts is not currently known.

Chairman of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches in Papua (PGBP), Socratez Sofyan, confirmed the arrests and torture when contacted by suarapapua.com.

“[The allegations are] correct. The three people arrested are members of the Baptist Church. A report I received last night stated that they have been tortured and their skin sliced with razor blades by policemen,” Yoman explained by mobile phone, Saturday (9/3/2013).

Yoman states that he attempted to contact Papua Province Police Chief, Police Inspector General Tiro Karnavian, last night in relation to the arrests. Yoman has not yet received a response.

“I sent the Police Chief an SMS last night. Usually he responds quickly, but even this morning, I have not heard anything from him. The community here is currently searching for the three men arrested by the police,” Yoman said.

The chronology of events, according to Yoman, began on 1 March 2013, when the three men left their village of Pirime, in Lanny Jaya District. They were travelling by plane to Sinak, Puncak District.

After nearly one week in Sinak, the men flew to Wamena District, before returning home to Pirime. They were subsequently arrested and taken to Wamena Police Station.

It is not yet clear why the three men were arrested and tortured. (WPM note: Whilst not clear, massive joint military and police sweeps are occurring throughout the Sinak area after the shooting deaths of eight Indonesian soldiers by West Papuan pro-independence guerrillas).

The Head of Public Relations for Papua Province Police, Police Grand Commissioner Adjutant I Gede Sumerta, did not respond to media enquiries.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION
Two Indonesian men now arbitrarily detained in Jayapura, Papua province, are believed to have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated by police.

Daniel Gobay and Matan Klembiap are currently detained at the Jayapura district police station in Papua province. Police officers allegedly tortured or other otherwise ill-treated them and five other men while interrogating them about the whereabouts of two pro-independence activists. They have not received medical treatment and they have not had access to a lawyer since their arrest.

According to credible sources, plainclothes police officers arbitrarily arrested Daniel Gobay and two other men on the morning of 15 February 2013 in Depapre, Papua province. The three men were first forced to crawl on their stomachs to the Depapre sub-district police station approximately 30 metres away and then moved to the Jayapura district police station an hour later. There they were then forced to
strip, were kicked in the face, head and back, and beaten with rattan sticks. Police officers allegedly pressed the barrels of their guns to their heads, mouth and ears. They were interrogated until late at night and in the morning of the following day.

Matan Klembiap and three other men were arbitrarily arrested separately by plainclothes police officers on the morning of 15 February in Depapre and taken to the Jayapura district police station.

The four men were also forced to strip and were kicked and beaten with rattan sticks and wooden blocks by police officers. One of the men has testified on video that police gave him electric shocks.

On 16 February, five of the men were released without charge but Daniel Gobay and Matan Klembiap remain in police custody and are reportedly to be charged with “possession of a sharp weapon” under the Emergency Regulation 12/1951.

Amnesty International has asked that readers “Please write immediately in English, Indonesian or your own language calling on authorities in Indonesia” to take the following urgent action:

To ensure that Daniel Gobay and Matan Klembiap are not tortured or otherwise ill-treated;

To ensure that the two men have access to medical treatment, and to lawyers of their choosing; and

To immediately order an effective and independent investigation into the allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of the seven men by police officers. Suspected criminal offences involving human rights violations must be dealt with through the criminal justice system, rather than only internally and as disciplinary breaches to ensure that all those responsible for torture and other ill-treatment, including persons with chain of command responsibility, are brought to justice in fair trials, and that victims are provided reparations. Particular attention must be paid to the protection of victims, witnesses and their families.

Jayapura (6/1)- The Family of Simeon Dabi, Baliem Valley Chairman of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), made complaints about the absence of a lawyer to assist Simeon, (a call which was responded to) by the Coalition for Enforcement of Democracy for Papua, Gustaf Kawer. Kawer said the team was now ready to assist the hearing of Simeon Dabi. (However) the readiness of the Coalition team for democracy can not be (automatically) realised because of funding constraints, according to Gustaf,

Lawyer Gustaf Kawer

“Since the beginning we have shown the will to assist them (every trial of a KNPB activist) The problem is that we do not have operational funds for Wamena, “said Gustaf in response of complaints by Simeon Dabi’s family about detention proses, dossier creation and submission of the detainees from police custody to the prosecutor without a lawyer, Thursday (2/1).

Meanwhile, another lawyer, Olga Hamadi said she had not been contacted in the case of assisting Simeon during the hearing. However, according to Olga, they are ready to assist if the family contacted them. “I have not been contacted about it by the family. Later, when contacted, surely I will respond, ” said Olga Hamadi, human rights lawyer and Coordinator of Kontras Papua.

Previously, the family is hoping that the central executive of KNPB could help finding a lawyer who will assist Simeon. “We hope Simeon’s friends in Jayapura can help find a lawyer,” Simeon’s family said.

KNPB central executive members admitted that they already tried to contact a lawyer who will assist Simeon. The contacted lawyer is ready to go to Wamena. “We act at a level of coordination with the lawyer. The lawyers Gustaf Kawer and Olga Hamadi are ready to go to Wamena,” KNPB central spokesman, Rocky Wim Medlama, said to tabloidjubi.com, Thursday (3/1)

However, according to Rocky Medlama, there are parties who restrict them. “The lawyer is ready to leave for Wamena but there are parties who make problems about this,” Wim said on Wednesday (3/1).

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Posts navigation

When foreign journalists are banned from an Occupied Land, who better to tell the story than the people who live it. Your donations support and help deliver training for a free and independent media in Papua, safe from harm from those who want to prevent the story getting out. We are entirely non-profit and rely on your support to continue our work. Please donate generously.

Follow us

Get West Papua Media Alerts on social media:

Subscribe to Alerts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 8,927 other followers

Papuans Behind Bars is a new project to document the cases of West Papuan Political prisoners. That site has profiles of current and former political prisoners and releases monthly news updates on arrests, trials, etc. West Papua Media is proud to be working with Papuan Behind Bars

Sorong, Jubi – West Papua Councilor Yonadap Trogea said since 2001 – 2014, the Central Government has disbursed 54 trillion rupiahs to both Papua and West Papua Provincial Government through the Autonomy Fund as reported by the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia to Indonesian Parliament on 8 July 2014. However, he said, apparently […] The post Papua Au […]

Sorong, Jubi – Hundreds of public transportation (angkot) drivers held a protest in front of drivers held a protest in front of Dominique Edward Osok Airport, Sorong following the sudden increase of fuel price few days ago. A driver who declined mentioning his name said the fluctuation of fuel price put drivers in dilemma. “If […] The post Hundreds of Angkot […]

Jayapura, Jubi – Jayapura Municipal Religious Affairs Department will set up a division to deal with radicalism. “This task force unit is consisting of our instructors that are recruited to meet our goals,” Syamsudin said on Sunday (29/3/2105) by phone. He said he received reports about the activities of some religious sects and the task […] The post Jayapur […]

Jayapura, Jubi – Lis Tabuni, a relative of two people who were allegedly assaulted by police officers in Pasar Cigombong Kotaraja, said this case must be taken to court for the sake of justice. “I asked the authority to take this case into legal process because I want to find out why those officers did […] The post Torture Victims Urge Police Officers to Fac […]

Jayapura, Jubi – Paniai Regional Customary Council Chairman said digging up the funeral of people who had buried for whatever reason is not allowed by Mee and almost all Papuan tribes; it is consider as violation of customary law. “I do not agree if they must dig up the bodies for autopsy because it is […] The post Paniai Regent Already Transferred Evidences […]

Intellectual Property

The West Papua Media logo, name, Westpapuamedia.info, West Papua Media Alerts, Safe Witness Journalism and Safe Witness Broadcasting are all original creations of West Papua Media, and we assert all rights to the use of these names exclusively. Any third parties attempting to use our name or derivatives of our identity without permission are in breach of Copyright and will be subjected to DMCA orders.

Content Usage

Any reprints or syndication for non-commercial use must be attributed to Westpapuamedia.info and the original content author. This extends to original text, audio, video or photos appearing on westpapuamedia.info. Any commercial or for-profit use is subject to negotiation and/or payment/donation and is subject to copyright to West Papua Media and/or original content creators. Please contact editor @ westpapuamedia.info for syndication or content use requests.

Follow

Partner Content

West Papua Media also utilises content from other outlets and partners under Creative Commons principles for non-profit use. West Papua Media retains the right to reprint, embed or syndicate without charge any article or content by other organisations that has been written or produced with the assistance of any of our staff, fixers, stringers or editorial team. We will endeavour to remove any content that is so requested by copyright holders, and if commercial use is sought from us, we will fully disclose to copyright holders the request, seek further permissions, and if payment is given to West Papua Media, we will pass on proceeds to copyright holders in accordance with their wishes and rights.

Our Mission

West Papua Media's principal mission is to assist in the development and advocacy of a free and open media capacity for West Papua, and to provide a Public Interest journalism service on issues affecting West Papua, for the international community. However, we respect the assertion of rights to intellectual property and will honour any reasonable request. We are non-commercial so we cannot pay you, but we can greatly enhance the spread of your content. Contributions subject to editorial policy always welcomed. Donations are welcome and required to enable this mission to succeed.